In 2015, Johnson & Johnson announced a first-of-its-kind pilot partnership between its pharma unit Janssen and the Division of Medical Ethics at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine. The partnership involved the Compassionate Use Advisory Committee (CompAC), a panel of external bioethical experts, physicians and patient representatives convened by NYU, examining US-based requests for compassionate use of Janssen’s investigational drugs and making recommendations as to who would most benefit from such use. The project has been a success and could act as a model for other companies, says Janssen's Chief Medical Officer Dr Amrit Ray. However, as Ray explained to Sukaina Virji*, there is still much to learn in this area, and the initiative has not been without its ethical dilemmas along the way.
The Takeaways, Part One – Dr Amrit Ray on Janssen’s efforts to bring order to compassionate use
- In compassionate use, historically, it's not been clear where to go, who to ask, how to ask, what the process and policies will be, and that's led to a lot of inconsistency for patients,